Morphine Withdrawal Symptoms (& The Top 20 Things That Can Help)

In this article, I’m going to provide you with a Master List of all the common and uncommon morphine withdrawal symptoms that ensue from the abrupt cessation of morphine.

Additionally, I’ll be helping you out a great deal, because along with listing off all of the morphine withdrawal symptoms, I’m also going to provide you with the best remedies for minimizing or even eliminating each and every symptom.

After six years of studying and perfecting the “Art of Opiate Recovery,” I’ve come to realize that there are well over 70 morphine withdrawal remedies that can assist you to mitigate withdrawal symptoms.

I’ll be providing the cream of the crop in this piece, so sit tight…because help is on the way!

Morphine withdrawal symptoms can be broken down into the following categories:

Common Symptoms

Uncommon Symptoms

Physical Symptoms

Mental Symptoms

Emotional Symptoms

Now that you’ve been educated on the framework of this article, let us start the learning process and dive right in…beginning with an overview on morphine, tolerance, dependence, withdrawal, symptoms of morphine withdrawal, and the morphine withdrawal symptoms timeline.

How Morphine Works in the Body

morphine is an illicit opiate. Opiates are drugs that are derived from the opium poppy plant. Opioids are synthetic or natural drugs that do not originate from the opium poppy plant, however, they still bind to the same opioid receptors in the brain and body that opiates bind to, resulting in the same types of effects.

morphine attaches to specific proteins called opioid receptors, which are located on nerve cells in the brain, spinal cord, GI tract, and other organs.

Once morphine attaches to the opioid receptors, the morphine effects come on, which include, but are not limited to:

Pain Relief

Euphoria

Sedation

Constipation

Nausea

As human beings, we already have an endogenous painkilling system that is capable of producing pain relief, sedation, and euphoria.

For example, imagine a man who has just run five miles along the beach.

As a result of this intense physical exertion, his body naturally produces its own opioid chemicals, known as endorphins and enkephalins, thus reducing pain, and promoting euphoria naturally (“runners high”).

Tolerance and Dependence

We already produce natural opioid chemicals (endorphins/enkephalins) in the precise amounts our bodies were designed to handle. The problem arises when an individual has been using morphine or another opioid drug for a period of time.

After prolonged use of morphine, the production of endogenous opioids is inhibited, which accounts in part for the withdrawal syndrome that results from the immediate cessation of the drug.

The continuous use of morphine overrides our natural ability to produce endorphins and enkephalins.

The brain comes to rely on morphine to create these neurotransmitters.

When a person stops using morphine, the brain doesn’t start creating these endogenous opioids right away. It short-circuits, leading to withdrawal symptoms, and deteriorating psychological function.

Whether an individual is abusing morphine or even taking morphine as prescribed by a physician, the continued use quickly leads to tolerance. Tolerance is a state of adaptation in which exposure to a drug induces changes that result in a decrease of the drug’s effects over time.

If an individual continues using morphine after a tolerance has been established, they will eventually develop a physiological dependence.

Dependence develops when the neurons adapt to the repeated drug exposure and only function normally in the presence of the drug.

Neurons

Morphine Withdrawal Syndrome

When a dependent individual abruptly stops taking morphine (leading opiate-blood concentration to fall below the required level), the now opiate-tolerant central nervous system (CNS) goes haywire. With no inhibitive stimulation to satisfy receptors, the pathways of the CNS fire signals strenuously, performing at a level much higher than pre-dependence levels.

Now the locus coeruleus responds by triggering the autonomic fight or flight response. What results is known as the morphine withdrawal syndrome, and it’s one of the most horrific experiences an individual could even go through.

Morphine Withdrawal Symptoms

Now that you have a good overview of how the whole process starts, we can now review the physical, mental, and emotional morphine withdrawal symptoms that result from the abrupt cessation of morphine.

Please note that these morphine withdrawal symptoms can also result from lowering your dosage too quickly on an opiate taper. Tapering is lowering your dosage systematically over a predetermined time frame, which significantly reduces the shock to your body that a cold-turkey detox creates.

As you can see, there are plenty of unpleasant morphine withdrawal symptoms that can afflict you while lowering your dosage too fast, or coming off morphine cold-turkey. The really awful aspect of morphine withdrawal is that you get hit with a ton of different physical and psychological morphine withdrawal symptoms.

If it were just one or the other, it wouldn’t be near as horrific of an experience.

But alas this isn’t the case.

morphine withdrawal symptoms are both physical and psychological, and most of the time these symptoms are very severe.

Now let’s move on to the next section, where you’ll learn about the morphine withdrawal symptoms timeline.

Morphine Withdrawal Symptoms Timeline

How long do morphine withdrawal symptoms last and when do they begin? Approximately 12 hours after your last dose of morphine, the mild morphine withdrawal symptoms will begin to arise.

Here is a brief overview of the morphine withdrawal symptoms timeline after stopping the use of morphine:

Day 1 – Unpleasant morphine withdrawal symptoms that make it difficult to get through the day.

Day 2 – A significant increase in the severity of morphine withdrawal symptoms.

Days 3-4 – morphine withdrawal symptoms peak and are the most severe during these final two days.

Day 5 – The acute withdrawal phase is technically over, and the morphine withdrawal symptoms become much less severe, though you still feel them a lot.

Morphine Withdrawal Symptoms Timeline – PAWS Overview

Many morphine users have successfully managed to get past the acute morphine withdrawal symptoms phase, only to realize that the struggle was far from being over. Though the symptoms, duration, and severity vary, an estimated 90% of all opiate daily users experience Post-Acute Withdrawal Syndrome (PAWS) to some degree after the acute withdrawal is over.

To accurately and simply define PAWS, let’s break down the meaning of each individual word:

Post-acute withdrawal is a group of symptoms of addictive disease that occur as a result of abstinence from addictive chemicals. In the alcoholic/addict these symptoms appear seven to fourteen days into abstinence, after stabilization from the acute withdrawal. Post-acute withdrawal is a bio/psycho/social syndrome. It results from a combination of damage to the nervous system caused by alcohol or drugs and the psychosocial stress of coping with life without drugs or alcohol.”

PAWS Morphine Withdrawal Symptoms Timeline

PAWS can last anywhere from a few weeks to several years. In fact, there is even a possibility that PAWS can continue for the rest of an individual’s life after quitting long-term daily morphine. Unfortunately, there is really no way to determine how long it will last.

PAWS Morphine Withdrawal Symptoms List

There is a wide range of symptoms an individual might experience from PAWS. Post-acute morphine withdrawal symptoms will vary from person to person. Post-acute morphine withdrawal symptoms will also vary in severity from person to person.

Some common post-acute morphine withdrawal symptoms include:

Inability to think clearly

Memory problems

Emotional overreactions or numbness

Physical coordination problems

Stress sensitivity

Hostility

Anxiety

Depression

Insomnia

Increased susceptibility to emotional and physical pain

Gastrointestinal (GI) issues

Intense cravings to use opiates

Drug dreams

Fatigue

Inability to experience pleasure (“pleasure deafness”)

I strongly believe that the last two symptom (“pleasure deafness” and fatigue) is the #1 reason why most individuals going through PAWS relapse within the first 90 days of getting sober.

Going weeks to months without feeling any pleasure in life, and on top of that having no energy or motivation, is in my opinion more detrimental to recovery than any of the other post-acute morphine withdrawal symptoms.

Morphine Withdrawal Symptoms – Top 20 Things That Can Help

Since you’ve made it this far in the article, I know you’re serious about using the best remedies for reducing the severity of your morphine withdrawal symptoms. I aim to deliver on my promise.

Thus, without further ado, here are the Top 20 things that can help, with clickable links so you can learn more by checking out articles entirely dedicated to each morphine withdrawal symptoms remedy.

In order from the most helpful first, here are the Top 20 remedies for reducing morphine withdrawal symptoms:

Along with these, no matter which remedies for morphine withdrawal symptoms you end up using, make sure you also take this Opiate Recovery Supplement.

You’ll need the nutrients in these supplements to help your brain begin restoring healthy levels of dopamine, endorphins, serotonin, and GABA, which are the most important neurotransmitters for mood and behavior.

This supplement can lead to the following benefits:

Restores Healthy Neurotransmission

Enhances Mood

Eases Stomach Discomfort

Increases Natural energy

Calms Anxiety

Reverses Depression

Reverses Insomnia

Reduces Opiate Cravings

Morphine Withdrawal Symptoms – Conclusion

I hope you’ve gained tremendous insight and value from this blog post on morphine withdrawal symptoms and the Top 20 Things That Can Help.

I didn’t provide overviews on the Top 20 remedies for morphine withdrawal symptoms because this article is almost 2,000 words long (which is long enough!), and I’ve already written separate articles for each remedy, which have detailed information, including how to use each remedy for morphine withdrawal.

Now you have everything you need to know about morphine withdrawal symptoms, morphine withdrawal timelines, and the most effective remedies that can help you reduce or even eliminate your morphine withdrawal symptoms.

Matt Finch

Matt helps men and women that are dependent on opiates learn how to get off these drugs without getting sick. He is a former opiate addict and a former Substance Abuse Counselor at an Opiate Treatment Program (OTP). Matt has since become an Opiate Recovery Coach, Author, and Speaker.

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